Suzanne Goin talks about dishes that cooks have love-hate relationships with in her excellent Sunday Suppers at Lucques (how many times do I have to mention this before you go get it?). For her the dish is braised short ribs that she added to the menu and then could never take off. For me, it is Christmas morning sticky buns. Somehow the tradition has evolved to the point where Christmas simply isn’t Christmas without sticky buns. It is my fault. This tradition actually started when I was growing up though my parents were content to open up a cardboard tube. It may not surprise you to learn that I had to modify the tradition ;). When my wife asked if we should go out Christmas Eve to hang out with some friends I thought for sure this meant I was free of my chores. I was silly, of course. I finished up at 1:30 in the morning. They are still good after all these years though.

The source of this recipe is literally lost in time. I have it scrawled down on a note card with no sources. It is pretty much a simple brioche dough that is rolled up jelly roll style. I do know that I have substituted Lyle’s Golden Syrup for Dark Corn Syrup because I’m not a fan of corn syrup and because the Golden Syrup tastes fantastic. It is, unfortunately, not that easy to find. Amazon is your friend.

Melt the butter in the scalded milk and allow to cool. Soften the yeast in the water. Mix milk mixture with the yeast, eggs, sugar, salt and flour. I do this in a standing mixer and knead until smooth and elastic. Rise for 1 1/2 – 3 hours. Finish wrapping your presents.

Divide the dough in half and roll each half into a 10″ x 18″ rectangle. Spread the butter onto each half. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over each rectangle. Drizzle the syrup over both as well. Roll the rectangles up in a jelly roll fashion and then slice each into 12 slices. Place into two 9 inch cake pans, cover, and put in the fridge. Collapse into bed or, if doing at a sane time let rise for another hour outside the fridge.

The next morning preheat the oven to 350 and bake until nice and brown, at least 30 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes before flipping onto wax paper. Enjoy!

17 responses to “Christmas Buns”

While your parents only opened a tube for Christmas Day, because your father’s occupation precluded doing much more, the original recipe you elude to came from your mother – who did make these sticky buns on other occasions. :^)

I should have just planned a little better. You need to let the milk cool which takes some time and then you need to let them rise for two hours. If you can get them doing the first rise before you go out it wouldn’t be too bad.

Delicious… I’d love to have this as a tradition. Your cardboard tube comment made me smile… my kids used to love those Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls because you could “whack” the roll to get the dough out:) These looks heavenly!!

How wonderful to have such a lovely tradition. And the fact that you are such a nice fellow to follow through at such a late hour of the evening. I ate cinnamon rolls growing up as well. We called them sweet rolls but they weren’t freshly made and they didn’t come out of a can and then baked. They came from a package, already baked and served at room temperature.